Filed under: Radio, Radio-Video | Tags: Activism, American optimism, Androids, Aristotle, Atheism, Belfast, Britain, Christianity, Conservatives, Creationism, Cults, David Cameron, Debauchery, Democracy, Denmark, Depression, Economists, Education, Egoism, Environmentalism, Epicurius, Eudaimonism, Family, General Well-Being, God, Graeme Watson, Gratitude, Happiness, Hatred of Motherly Virtues, Hedonists, Hippie Lovefest, Humanism, Ibiza, Introversion, Ireland, L. Ron Hubbard, Libertarian Socialism, Lord Richard Laird, Low-grade hedonism, Marriage, Mental Health, Middle Class Lefty Guardian Readers, Narcissism, New age, New Economics Foundation, Northern Ireland, Nutrition, Patriarchy, Pessimism, Philosophy, Physical Education Teachers, Pleasure, Political Theory, Politics, Post-Humans, Prospect Magazine, Public Policy, Queen's University Belfast, Rationalists, Richard Dawkins, Scientology, Secular Society, Social Justice, Social Science, Social Virtues, Socialism, Souls, Sweden, The Enlightenment, Theory of The Good, Tony Blair, Tories, Tragedy, Twee, UK, USA, Utopia, Voting Behavior, Welfare, Well-being, Workplace Democracy
Graeme's Chosen Image of Happiness: Picasso's Joie de Vivre
Episode 27 has Graeme Watson talking about the philosophy of happiness and the politics of well-being. He’s finishing his PhD in political theory at Queen’s, examining different approaches to achieving happiness and how politicians (especially those in the UK) have brought the notion from twee to power.
Graeme discusses the ascendancy of the notion ‘Well-Being’ into a watchword of Tony Blair’s New Labor and David Cameron’s New Tories, as well as predictions that it will be one of the ‘Big Ideas of the 21st Century’. He explains how the personal is being made political and how the consumer industry of happiness is feeding into a new kind of politics — attracting Middle Class Lefty Guardian Readers, among others.
Plus, Graeme offers some visions of our coming post-human future, his low-grade hedonism, some secrets to happiness, and his planned cult.
done
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Activism, Belfast, Bloody Sunday, Civil Rights, Derry, Free Derry, Hypnosis, John Kelly, Londonderry, Michael Kelly, Northern Ireland, South Belfast, The Troubles, Therapy
Derry Mural
Episode 20 goes to Derry, to the Museum of Free Derry, to hear from John Kelly. He works meeting and greeting visitors to the Museum, and speaks about his job as well as his personal experiences of Bloody Sunday. He lost his brother Michael Kelly that day and has been involved in many efforts to find redress for the victims – including acting as a Family Liaison Officer for the Bloody Sunday Commission.
The second half of the show returns to Belfast to talk with Robert Herdman at the Belfast Hypnosis Centre. He’s the main hypnotist at the centre, where he uses a technique of Five Path Hypnosis, which he’s brought from California to Northern Ireland. He recommends hypnosis as a means to lose weight, stop smoking, and overcome other fears. In the interview, he explains how hypnosis works, what he does during a session, and how people in Northern Ireland react to it.
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Activism, Belfast, Carribean, CIA, Citizenship, Colonialism, Cults, Decolonization, Ethnic Minorities, Family, Film, Global South, Globalization, Guyana, India, Jim Jones, Jonestown, Michael Mahadeo, Migration, National Geographic, Northern Ireland, Ormeau Avenue, Pakistan, Politics, Radicalism, Social Problems, Socialism, Southern Command, Student Protest, Teaching, Television, The Troubles, USA
Michael Mahadeo
Michael Mahadeo has lived in Northern Ireland since the mid 1980s, when he moved here from British Guyana. He speaks about growing up in Guyana during its decolonization, and about the most notorious part of the country’s recent history — the Jonestown massacre, in which hundreds of American citizens killed themselves on a compound in rural Guyana. Michael also discusses being an ethnic minority in Northern Ireland, adjusting to the Troubles, and whether it’s ever possible to become a local here.
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Activism, Baltimore, Crashdance, Exchanges, FBI, Flashdance, Football, Hollywood, Larry Evans, Millhunk Herald, Pittsburgh, Plastic Turf, Public Broadcasting, Reform School, Rust Belt, Security Threat, Serbia, Socialism, Spiro Agnew, Steel, Tony Novosel, Ukraine, Unions, Work, Writing
Larry with the Mill Hunk Herald
In the 1980s, Larry Evans was named a national security threat, Hollywood script writers were intent on telling his life story, he was crossing the Iron Curtain, and he was overtaking the Pittsburgh public television airwaves. As the steel mills were closing down in that decade, Larry ran the Millhunk Herald, a local journal, and was active in the efforts to keep the industry alive. He tells his story — how he got politically active, what’s happened to him since those activist days, and what it’s like to be classed a threat to society.
The video clip below comes from a documentary Larry made about his Millhunk Herald days. Tony Novosel stars in the 1983 Pittsburgh-made ‘Crashdance’, as a steelworker who turns to exotic dancing amidst the collapse of the steel industry in the city.
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Activism, Answers in Genesis, Atheists, Bible, Catholic Church, Cincinnati, Creationism, David Menton, Dinosaurs, Earth, Islam, Ken Ham, Kentucky, Museum, Politics, Religion, Science, USA
At the Creation Museum
The program visits Kentucky’s Creation Museum and interviews Dr David Menton, who lectures there. He belongs to Answers in Genesis, a Creationist group working to publicize and explain the ‘Young Earth’ view of the origin of the universe, which follows a strict interpretation of the Bible. Dr Menton discusses how he reconciles Creationism and science; how the museum was established in the face of local protests; how he deals with people who criticize and mock Creationists; and why he believes that dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth together.
Security
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Activism, Afghanistan, Belfast, Derry, Ethnic Minorities, Gay Culture, Homosexuality, MI5, Politics, Puppets, Queen's University Belfast, Sesame Street, Sesame Tree, Terrorism, The Troubles, USA
Episode 4 starts off with Colin Wililams, an executive producer of Sesame Tree, the new local version of Sesame Street. Then it turns to politics, with a conversation with Mary Alice Clancy about the international dimension of post-agreement politics, and the Bush administration’s involvement here. Finally, Aidan McGarry speaks about his research on the situation of ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland and his activism within the lesbian/gay community here.
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Activism, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Belfast, Canada, Capitalism, Democratization, Duquesne, Ethnic Conflict, Exchanges, Gerry Adams, Irish-Americans, Novi Sad, Pittsburgh, Politics, Ruthenians, Serbia, Sheep-shearing, Socialism, Students, Teaching, The Troubles, University of Pittsburgh, USA, Vojvodina
Tony Novosel
The first episode of Another World features interviews with Tony Novosel and Miroslav Budinski. Tony speaks about teaching on the Northern Irish conflict in America and coordinating student exchanges between the US and Northern Ireland.
Miroslav, a shepherd and hostel operator in Novi Sad, the capital of the northern province of Vojvodina in Serbia, turns the conversation to sheep-shearing, socialism, and ethnic conflict.
Novi Sad's Central Square
